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-144-Also economic considerations are involved and the actual investment and management costs of various water supply systems have to be studies carefully.

Forecasts have been made on the amounts of water to be supplied artificially in years with dry spells of different magnitude and length. These forecasts, however, have not yet been put together in a national masterplan for water supply in agriculture. Besides grassland and arable crops, much water is also needed in horticulture, particularly in glass-house farming. In this respect, water quality is of an extreme importance.

4. Combat Against Surface Water Pollution² 4.1 Introduction

A start was made in the Netherlands some decades ago to take active steps against water pollution. The municipalities and water boards built waste treatment plants, chiefly for the treatment of domestic sewag.e.

with financial assistance from the government, approximately one thousand million guilder~ were invested in waste treatment plants during the period up to J970. The measures taken were, however, insufficient to solve the problem of the increasing pollution of Dutch surface waters. The lack of any statutory regulations or any proper financing scheme represented a great obstacle to an effective solution.

The Pollution of Surface Waters Act came into force on 1 December 1970. The introduction of this legislation opened up many legitimate ways of combating water pollution. A sound financial basis was also laid for implementation of the

necessary measures.

One of the. principles on which the Act is based is decentra-lization. The state is responsible for the management and

quality of the larger water bodies such as the rivers Rhine, Meuse and ScheIdt, and Lake Yssel and Waddenzee. In principle, the provincial authorities are responsible for the remainding water bodies but they can in turn delegate this to the local authorities.

In eight of the eleven provinces, implementation of the regulations became the responsibility of water boards. In the Netherlands, where water management is traditionally a separate branch of the administration, this was quite natural. This meant that in theory favorable conditions were created for linking the quantity of water supply, which had always been the job of the water boards, with the quality. The other three

provincial executives have taken i t upon themselves to super-vise the quality of water. It may be stated that decentralized implementation of the Act has worked very well in practice.

In particular, i t has allowed for rapid intensification of the anti-pollution measures. However, decentralization also means

2Based on the report: The Combat Against Survace Water Pollution in the Netherlands.

-145-that ways must be found to ensure the necessary coordination and uniformity with regard to planning, granting permits and levying charges.

The necessary organization has already been set up for this purpose. An important element in the coordination is the Five Year Plan.

4.2 Five Year Plan

The Five Year plan is fixed every five years by the Minister for Transport and Public Works in consultation with the Minister for Public Health and Environmental Hygiene.

It is not only. concerned with policy affecting state waters but its object is to control water pollution allover the

Netherlands. The first 5-Yeai Plan was submitted to the Parliament in February 1975. It contains a program which was drafted in

consultation with the regional water authorities.

In addition, i t makes recommendations and sets objectives for the control of water pollution in the future. These are intended to serve as guidelines for the local authorities for making their own plans for water pollution control.

The main instruments by which the authorities responsible for pollution control can carry into effect their policies, are:

- permits; these are required for the discharge of all pollutants or harmful substances into

surface water;

- prohibitions; the discharge of certain wastes is strictly prohibited. These substances are specified by the Minister for Transport and Public Works in consultation with the Minister for Public Health and Environmental Hygiene;

- charges; charges are set against the cost of the measures necessary for the abatement and prevention of water

poZZution. They must be paid by those who are responsible for discharging pollutants. A charge is payable for the discharge of oxygen consuming wastes in any part of

the Netherlands. From 1975 onwards, certain heavy metals will also be subject to a discharge levy.

4.3 Regional Plans

The regional authorities in charge of pollution control are required to draw up plans which should form the basis of their water management.

The pollution control plan should indicate the functions of water in the area concerned and the uses to which i t is to be put. It should be remembered that surface waters have a

-146-country-wide character and any physical planning for the

development of the area generally must be taken into account.

4.4 Modelling of Water Quality

In the Netherlands, quite a lot of research is done on modelling of the reaction of surface water to different types of pollution. This reaction is mainly determined by the

simultaneous occurrence of biological, chemical, physical and hydraulic processes.

The problem arises that water quality cannot be character-ized by one specific variable, since various decomposable and non-composable substances finally determine water quality. The models mainly are describing the variation of the oxygen content or Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD).

Some of the institutions working on this type of models are listed in Section 6.

5. Water Resources Management Studies 5.1 National Studies

The water demands discussed in the previous sections must be balanced in a National Master Plan for the overall management of water resources. Responsible for the preparation of this plan is the Ministry for Transport and Public Works. The Water Management Department at this Ministry is in charge of the work. At the moment only a water management model exists. This model simulates the main river system in the

Netherlands e.g., the river flows, the surface water extractions and the flows at the main outlets (see Figure 2).

The Master Plan for the total water resources management in the Netherlands is still in preparation.

5.2 Regional Studies

In various parts of the Netherlands regional water manage-ment studies are carried out. One of these studies is described

in Th.J. Van De Nes (1975).

The large-scale and complex character of the water manage-ment system necessitates the involvemanage-ment of many disciplines

in the study.

On the one hand, this causes problems of communication between the various disciplines and on the other hand, problems of transfer of knowledge to the management. An attempt has been made to solve these problems with the aid of systems theory,

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-148-where the theory concerning hierarchical problems clearly offeted perspectives. This approach enables a complex system to be broken down into a number of subsystems that can be studied individually, without losing sight of their mutual

dependence~ In this approach, the water resources management system is divided into a number of 'levels that are studied in different degrees of detail, with the aid of mathematical

models. Thus, the complex decision process is divided between various levels, so that i t can be solved better. The way in which the results can be used in the planning of water resources management yields an insight into the structure of the decision process. Three types of elements are distinguished:

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In this research project many institutes, national

and regional services are p~rticipatihg. The results of these investigations should also ,be impdrtant for national level

investigations.

6. Discussion

With respect to the questions p~t forwara by IIASA's Water Demand Group, the fol~Qwing can"be said:

(1) Work to be done at IIASA;:'.

It seems' useful that IIASA concentrates its activities on:

the methodological aspects for balancing various interests in water use;

- the relationship between surface water treatment and the production of drinking water;

- the aspects related to the transfer of water; and - the coordination of water demand and water supply.

Before starting the research, however, the current investi-gations of the NMO countries and of other international organ~

izations should be given due attention.

(2) Institutions with whom to collaborate^3:

Many institutions and departments in the Netherlands are active in the field of Water Demand Modelling. It is likely

that a couple of these will be willing to collaborate with IIASA •

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The main institutions dealing with domestic and industpiaL water demand are:

3The listed names are certainly not complete.

-149-- National Institute for Water Supply (RID)i - Dutch Waterworks Association (VEWIN)i

- Waterworks Departments from the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. .

Some institutions dealing with water quality are:

- Governmental Institute for wastewater Treatment (RIZA)i

- National Institute for Water Supply (RID)i - Delft Hydraulics Laboratory (WL)i

- Departments of the Technical University at Delft, Twente, e.o. and the Agricultural University at Wageningeni

- TNO Research Institute for Environmental Hygiene.

Dealing with agricultural water demand are:

- Institute for Land and Water Management (leW);

- Departments of the Agricultural University.

Water resources studies in general:

- Public Works Department (Rijkswaterstaat);

- some regional research groups.

-150-REFERENCES

Dutch Contribution to the VN-Water Conference. (1977), Stpuatupal Plan fop Domestia and Industpial Watep Supply~ March.

Knoppert, P.L. (1976), Long-tepm Planning for Water _Supply~ IWSA Conference, General Report 1, September.

Ministry for Transport and Public Works. The Combat Against Sur-face Water Pollution in the Netherlands~ prospective multi-annual program 1975-1979.

Sprong, T.A.· (1976), Water.Management Model for the Netheplands~

paper presented at the Seminar on Long-term Planning of Water Management, BUlgaria, May.

Van De Nes, T.J. (1975), Systems· Theory as an Approaah to Regional Water Resouraes Management~ lecture presented during the Tech-nical l1eeting No. 32 of the Committee for Hydrological

Re-search TNO, June.·

APPENDIXES

-153-International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis

Schloss Laxenburg, Austria

WORKSHOP ON

MODELLING OF WATER DEMANDS

17-21 ^JANUARY 1977

Enclosed is the tentative agenda for our January Workshop on Mbdelling of Watep Demands and some background material which fairly well represents the subject matter. There are two main reasons for sending you these publica-tions. First, we hope that by letting-you read them before the Workshop, it will be easier to initiate discussion when we meet; and second, to some extent they are representative of publications which lIle would like you to bring here from your country; should your publications be in your language only, we will try to translate them into English. Most important, we would like to have brief presentations (ca. 15-20 minutes) by all Workshop par-ticipants representing IIASA National Member Organizations. If possible, we would appreciate having them structured in such a way that you respond

to the three major objectives mentioned in the original invitation letter of 22 October 1976. These objectives were: (1) Review work to be done at IIASA in light of the experiences in each of the NMO countries; (2) Identify research institutions with whom we can establish collaborative ties; and (3) Establish an international working group directly supporting in-house research at IIASA. Wri~ten summaries of your presentations (approximately five pages) would enable us to publish the workshop proceedings quickly.

The basic idea of the Workshop is to get to know each other, to learn about the others' experiences on the subject matter, and to plan joint investigations.

Before we comment on the Workshop agenda and our plans for the months to come, let us explain briefly our interest in water demands.

Water resources management faces problems of increasing number and complexity. The scope and scale of problems has increased enormously, particularly as a result of the rapid increase in population, the expansion of industry, the growth of urbanization, and the development of new kinds of water demands, notably those in the recreation field. Irrigation may also be expected to become the key issue of water resources development on a world-wide level. Many developing countries plan to initiate or expand large-scale irrigation schemes during the coming decades to ensure the level of food production required by increasing populations. Accompanying these developments has been a very serious decline in water quality, which has had implications for water supply: although relatively large volumes of water may be available, they are often suitable for only a very limited range of uses.

-154-Workshop Participant letter continued

The solution to these problems lies in a shift from the more or less tradi-tional extensive approach to the intensive one.¹ The former is characterized by a progressive increase in the distance over which water supplies are

ob-tained; as local sources become exhausted, a search for additional water goes further and further afield. New demands for water are met simply by tapping new sources of supply. The engineering schemes, seeking only a technical answer to the shortage problem, characterize this approach. New reservoirs and long-distance water transfer facilities are without doubt the most important methods of extending supplies; but supply extension should not be viewed as the only possible response to prospective water shortage.

The supply-oriented extensive approach is in contrast to the demand-oriented intensive approach. The objective of the latter is to make the most

effi-cient use of existing supplies rather than to concentrate on the provision of new ones. A variety of strategies is used in this connection, including the imposition of regulations to ensure that water is allocated to its most productive uses, the adoption of water-conserving technologies (such as re-cycling or evaporation control), and the treatment of wastewaters. Al though a number of

demand

management techniques are open to water users, we feel they are not being given sufficient consideration. There are various reasons for this state of affairs, one of them being that water still often is treat-ed as a cheap convenience or free commodity.

In many countries the water laws provide that all major water withdrawals and waste discharges are licensed by the appropriate authorities. In some countries water and wastewater charges are being introduced; however, the efficiency of the allocation instruments is a frequent subject of discussion.

Sometimes the charges to the user are not high enough and their effect in curbing water use and waste discharge is minimal. If they are set too high, there might be an unjustified increase in production costs, unnecessarily increasing the cost to the consumer of the final output.

Policies of economic allocation may differ in various countries. What is important, however, is that these policies must always minimize the costs of the bundle of goods needed to fulfill forecast requirements.

These comments are of introductory character only, but we hope they provide sufficient justification for our demand-oriented approach to the problem of water management.

As we see it now, the overall goal of our study is to develop a methodology with the aid of which efficient solutions in regional development of water

resources can be identified. How does one reach efficiency and what is the meaning of this term? First of all, the level of water resource development and the consequent allocation of this resource to various users must be de-fined, giving due consideration to all water-substitution possibilities.

It must be ascertained that the amount of water allocated to individual users (allocation pattern corresponding to a certain level of resource development) is the least costly al ternative mean for achieving certain social, environmental, and economic (production) objectives.

lW.R. Derrick Sewell and Leonard Roueche, The Potential Impact of Peak Load Pricing on Urban Water Demands, Victoria, B.C., A case study in Priorities in Water Management, University of Victoria, B.C., Canada (1974).

-155-Workshop Participant letter continued

In the enclosed paper by Thompson and Young, the application of demand functions seems to be very attractive for attainment of our study goals.

Quoting: "The most important application of demand functions is that they allow alternative projections of water use by systematically varying the factors that influence the demand for water. A second application is that the demand function provides a basis for evaluating whether specific in-vestments in flow regulation or interbasin transfers are justified by the demand for the water that these projects would provide."

As this is what we are interested in, we would like to structure our study in the following way:

(1) General methodology of derivation of economic demand functions for water. Overview of work completed and some new methodological advances.

(2) Having in mind both centrally planned and market economies, a review of the different water-using activities from the point of view of applicability of the general concepts of economic demand for water. Selection of water-intensive production processes and activities which are of a decisive character if one is concerned with the efficiency of regional water management.

(3) Modelling of the selected processes and activities as a means of deriving water demand functions.

Overview of the work already completed and if possible some new methodological advances.

Plant-level case studies of an illustrative character.

(4) Modelling water supply. Methodological developments concerning derivation of water supply functions, due regard being given to the temporal and spatial variability of water resources (both surface and

groundwater). Case studies of an illustrative character.

(5) Regional water management analysis through the use of the supply and demand functions. Methodological develop-ments and case studies in both market and centrally

planned economies.

It is quite obvious that we will not be able to do all this in-house at ILASA. But if we succeed in attracting the collaboration of you and your

associates, or any other group in your country which is interested in promoting the demand-oriented approach in water management, implementation of such a program might prove to be not only feasible but also of considerable value to the ILASA member countries. After some time, it may even evolve into a

associates, or any other group in your country which is interested in promoting the demand-oriented approach in water management, implementation of such a program might prove to be not only feasible but also of considerable value to the ILASA member countries. After some time, it may even evolve into a

Im Dokument Proceedings. Workshop on Modeling of Water Demands, Laxenburg, January 1977 (Seite 149-165)